St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-12-29
Their Work Compared With
That Done in the High / !.
Schools. Z
An Unusually Large Attend
anee Is Making This a Very :
Interesting Session. !.
County Superintendent Will
Keep Up Their 0rganiza- :
ton by Themselves. :

| 1HO- otdSc ltdtitIS dSSOcidllOu
opened with largely increased attend
ance yesterday morning. After short
address by Prof. W. NJ. West, of Fari-
bault, the president of the association,
| Prof. ". h. Friek. of Gustayus
AdOiphuS college, read paper on the
| subject of ".Paroehial Schools The
address was largely statistical, figures
| being given to show the number of
| pupils taught and teachers employed in
| such schools in the United States. This
| address was followed by one on the
| subject Religious and Normal Train
ing in the Public Schools" by Prof.
| Margaret J. Evans. of Carleton college.
| This address advocated the teaching of
| religious principles, not sectarian-
/ ISM The wishes of parents" she
/ said, must sometimes be sacrificed, but
! the welfare of the state demands it.
I Devotional exercises should be forced
( upon no one. and their acceptance is
! optional. No particular creed should
/ be mentioned and. only fundamental
/ principles of religion should be taught
/ in the public schools. Hardly branch
/ OF learning can be taught without
I mentioning Christianity. History would
| be riddle leaving out all mention of
/ Christ. Not to teach Christianity is TO
/ raise anarchists and ring politicians.
I Religious instruction cannot be omitted
/ without working harm to the children.
I Morality should be taught by the church
| and the family, but unfortunately
/ the ideal family is not numerous
/ in America. More than one-third
| of the children in New York receive no
| religious or moral instruction. and from
these will come the political and moral
corruption of the state.
LSUpt. Steward. OF Rochester. opened
the discussion OF these two papers. He
thought Rore religious, and especially
moral teaching should be intro
Bryant. of St. Paul: Supt.
Engstrum. OF GoOdhue. and President
Gray. of the ST. Cloud normal school,
continued the discussion. Over %
per cent of all the children trained in
Schools" said President Gray. ARE
from the public schools, and | challenge
comparison with parochial schools.
When a teacher is asked if lie is teach
ing morals it reflects on his Christian
character. You can't divorce morals
from religion" The meeting was then
adjourned until 80. e.
IN THE AFTERNOON.
Almost every seat in the large audi
ence room of the High school build
ing was filled at the afternoon session
of the association. Fully 400 of the
teachers of Minnesota were in attends
ance and altogether il was lively and
interesting meeting. The Normal
school question was the subject TO be
discussed. and both sides were. in CONT
mon parlance, LOADED" for the occa-
SIGN. The discussion began with a
paper by President Thomas J. GRAY. OF
ST. Cloud, ON 1.-The Relation of the Nor
nal Schools to the High Schools" The
paper ably presented the Normal school
side of the question.
The function of the Normal school, =
he said, lis to train teachers. The real
question therefore for discussion Is,
what constitutes professional trainingay
This, he defined broadly TO consist in
knowledge of the method of human
thought. More specifically, this train
ing consists of knowledge of the his
tory of education: the evolution of ideas
as recorded in history brings but the
idea of psychology: a knowledge of
its applications to all educational pro-
ceSseS. which may be termed the philOS-
ophy of education; knowledge of
school economy: of the relations of the
feelings 10 the will and intellect; of
the means and methods determined by
the conditioning laws of thought: and
in the acquaintance of truth.
To all OF this must be added the prac-
teal skill acquired alone by the work
of the practice school. or its costly
equivalent, unguided experiment upon
the child in the schools of the state.
Normal schools alone are designed by
society to secure these results. High
schools, nor any other academic schools /
can properly undertake this work. The
normal school is so placed in the
system of education as to render
all other schools tributary to il. No one
should essay TO teach who has not had
pedagogical training. The requirement
of scholarship does not involve such
preparation. 1t must follow scholar
ship. Not mental science and Latin,
but mental science i'm Latin gives teach
ing ability. The facts of every subject
must become data in mental philosophy
before one has
A TEACHERS KNOWLEDGE.
A High chool is to impart knowledge.
a Normal school knowledge how to
know. The latter should be school of
philosophy rather than of learning. 1t
is the duty of Normal schools to raise
their standard. and so to define profess
sional work as to command confidence.
1t is the duty of High schools to show
ltCiI totltl ny WINS III SCtQliiS
their graduates to them for training. A
good outlook will prevent any miSun-
Outstanding the schools. They are all
members of one body and one of an
other.
The discussion of this question was
opened by Superintendent William
Moore, of Lake City, who gave a fair
statement of the situation, and advo-
Gated that on one leaving High school
and graduating from the Normal school
be employed in the schools for a
certain time after graduation. ''None
but well-prepared and well-disciplined
pupils" he continued. SHOULD be adj
mitted to the Normal schools" IS
Supt. Bechdolt, of Mankato, was next /
recognized, and severely arraigned the /
Normal school management and the syS-
TEN in general. "A Normal school, M
said he, sis a school for the preparations
of teachers. To do this well it must
give first professional training. second
anc third professional training:
In this training is implied such review
of arithmetic and such collateral study d
of algebra and geometry as will make
the normal graduate master of arith-9
metic and so imbued with it that his
future teaching of this subject shall 1
BE FULL OF LIFE. y.
1t implies such study of the English,
language, its structure and history, such
collateral stu y of Latin and other
languages as will make the /
graduate an independent thinker
instead of textbook monger. Above
everything else, the graduate of the
Normal school should acquire that
knowledge of the INTERPRETATION of all
studies, that love of learning and thirst
for knowledge which will make his |
teaching that of quickening Spirit.and